000			02125nam a22002177a 4500
999			_c14818 _d14818
003			OSt
005			20210720172031.0
008			210720b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780143419136
040			_ckinley
082			_aFIC GHO
100			_aGhosh, Amitav.
245			_aRiver of smoke / _cAmitav Ghosh.
260			_aNew Delhi : _bPenguin Books, _c2012.
300			_a553 p. : _c20 cm.
520			_a "The Ibis, loaded to its gunwales with a cargo of indentured servants, is in the grip of a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal; among the dozens flailing for survival are Neel, the pampered raja who has been convicted of embezzlement; Paulette, the French orphan masquerading as a deck hand; and Deeti, the widowed poppy grower fleeing her homeland with her love, Kalua. The storm also threatens the clipper ship Anahita, groaning with the largest consignment of opium ever to leave India for Canton. And the Redruth, a nursery ship, carries "Fitcher' Penrose, a horticulturist determined to track down the priceless treasures of China that are hidden in plain sight: plants that have the power to heal, or beautify, or intoxicate. All will converge in Canton's Fanqui-Town, or Foreign Enclave: a tumultuous world unto itself where civilizations clash and sometime fuse. It is a powder keg awaiting a spark to ignite the Opium Wars. Spectacular coincidences, startling reversals of fortune, and tender love stories abound. But this is much more that an irresistible page-turner. The blind quest for money, the primacy of the drug trade, the concealment of base impulses behind the rhetoric of freedom: in River of Smoke, the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries meet, and the result is a consuming historical novel with powerful contemporary resonance. Critics praised Sea of Poppies for its vibrant storytelling, antic humor, and rich narrative scope; now Amitav Ghosh continues the epic that has charmed and compelled readers all over the globe"--Provided by publisher.
650			_aSchooners _vFiction.
650			_aVoyages and travels _vFiction.
650			_aSailors _vFiction.
942			_2ddc _cFIC